Aaron Gibson
Rear Admiral Aaron Gibson is an officer in the Office of Naval Intelligence and head of the ONI Special Operations Division. He was apart of the committee that approved Colonel Ackerson's SPARTAN-III Program in 2531. The Fall of Reach, while a devastating loss of military might and authority, would give him the rare opportunity of seizing total control of the Special Operations Division. He used this new promotion to start collecting important assets and other "bargaining chips" in preparation for a postwar bid for power. Biography 'Early Career' Aaron Gibson was born on the inner colony world Harmony on June 14, 2496. He was acknowledged for being a gifted student, particularly in the subject of astrophysics and quantum mechanics. His youthful obsession with outer space started as a hobby, but would soon catch the attention of his teachers and academic advisors. Gibson spent most of free time discussing physics and space with his pen pals, one of which would be the college professor that funded his education allowing him to attend the off-world Bear-Johnson University on Luyten. He would receive a degree in astrophysics in 2519. Unsatisfied with a life in academia and still desperate to discover his identity, Aaron Gibson enlisted as a commissioned officer in the Navy. He spent four years in the Hellespont Naval Academy, in which time Lieutenant Colonel Aoife "Ava" Meagher recognized his aptitude and had him transferred into the Office of Naval Intelligence. For the next five years, he would work with Signals Intelligence until requesting to be moved to Strategic Intelligence, likely motivated by the increasing threat of Insurrection in 2524. He continued to work for the Office of Naval Intelligence well into the Human-Covenant War, and would eventually be transferred into Section III where he would become the Head of Black Operations Division by 2531. By this year, the Covenant were putting a lot of pressure on humanity with the rate of glassed planets increasing evermore. Colonel James Ackerson called for a meeting on the UNSC Point of No Return to discuss the initiation of a new SPARTAN-III Program under his own guidance. Then-Captain Gibson agreed that launching a new program would be the smart move, especially since most of his projects were unable to compete with the effectiveness of the SPARTAN-II Program. 'Human-Covenant War' Aaron Gibson continued to work closely with the secretive Beta Divisions, particularly Beta-5, during the war. His black operatives took part in the reconnaissance and espionage involved with Operation: HYPODERMIC. By 2545, Gibson had acquired SPARTAN-A344 as part of his special forces unit dubbed the Asymmetrical Action Group. This unit had ties with Beta-5 but was ultimately under the command of Gibson. In 2545, he launched Operation: SHINOBI to destroy the Geospatial RF G06A in the Gamma Pavonis System and test the latest variants of MJOLNIR-compatible HAYABUSA powered armor. The mission was ultimately successful with the exception of the demise of SPARTAN-A151, though he was a Beta-5 asset. Rosenda-A344 survived the mission and continued to work alongside the Black Operations Division. On July 30, 2552, Gibson sent the AAG operatives to recover the missing Callisto Treaty reported to be on the glassed Cygnus. Prior to the planet's glassing, Gibson learned that the Treaty that had been missing for decades was being stored in vault on the surface by merchants. If his team could recover the Callisto Treaty, he could return the document or sell it for millions of dollars that could go towards funding his special projects. The AAG team is able to work through the hazards of a glassed planet long enough to locate and recover the document, and the mission serves as a beneficial opportunity to test new armor sets in these hazardous environments. The Fall of Reach had to be the most devastating blow to the UNSC's military might and chain of command. When High Command was attacked, a large number of UNSC and ONI commanders were killed in action. It was so bad that Deputy Chief of Naval Operations Danforth Whitcomb had been the highest ranking officer on Reach at the time of the planet's fall. Rear Admiral Ned Rich was among the casualties and his death allowed Aaron Gibson to assume total control of ONI Black and Covert Operations, essentially unifying the two divisions into one Special Operations Division. In the chaos of the battle, Gibson made an attempt at recovering the research and blueprints of Project Nova. The Nova Bomb was designed to be a nuclear weapon that could destroy an entire planet and eliminate the surrounding invasion force. Vice Admiral Whitcomb learned of this and sent the marines of Charlie Company to recover his Nova Bombs, and he would have the Spartans of Red Team ensure his evacuation off Reach. Gibson was still able to recover one Nova Bomb and have it reverse engineered later. After the Orbital Defense Platforms shut down, Gibson made his escape aboard the [[UNSC Anvil of Stars|UNSC Anvil of Stars]]. Category:Office of Naval Intelligence Category:ONI Special Operations Division Category:ONI Personnel